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Just this afternoon, the Boston Red Sox claimed 27-year-old, former 1st round pick of the Twins, Matt Fox off waivers. He had been taken off of the 40 man roster on Sunday to make room for Ben Revere on the 40 man roster. Although disappointed, he saw it as a great opportunity. If not for that crazy Thursday night game against Detroit last Thursday night, he likely would not have been put on the Twins 40 man roster, and at the end of the season, he would have likely left the Twins to go elsewhere. With uncertainty. By getting that one opportunity with the Twins, it opened doors. But to be fair, Fox did well for himself by pitching a terrific game against the Texas Rangers last Friday night. When he was removed from the 40 man roster, I was somewhat annoyed that the Twins did it (on a personal level), but it made some sense. From Fox’s perspective, it was an opportunity, he took advantage of it, scouts and GMs around baseball were able to see it, and the Red Sox claimed him. And now, he will get to spend the rest of the season with the Red Sox. They are on the west coast for the next six games, but of their last ten games, six are against the Yankees and four are against the White Sox. So Matt Fox can still help the Twins the rest of the season. And if the Twins happen to win a World Series championship, he will get a ring too!

Any thoughts?

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8 Responses to “Matt Fox Claimed by Red Sox”

I kept reading/hearing people complaining that the Twins had screwed this kid over by DFAing him and I never understood that. As you say, his future with the Twins was pretty nonexistant. The Twins needed helpfor one start. They gave him an opportunity to showcase what he can do for scouts all over the league. He took advantage of that opportunity and now he’s going to be playing Major League Baseball for 4 weeks and, hopefully, continuing to demonstrate he can pitch effectively against the best. The Twins didn’t have room for him and by DFAing him, he gets a great new opportunity. Good for him and I hope he makes the best of that chance with Boston.

Depends… The Twins can simply let him go and the Red Sox are then responsible for is contract. OR.. they have a certain number of days to complete a trade. All depends on what the Twins chose. The first person who responded was correct. The Twins did not “Screw” Fox by letting him pitch, it was more like an opportunity to showcase himself in a big game to all 30 teams. If the Twins let him go to the Sox and he does well I seriously doubt he will have ill will towards the Twins.

One other note here… Fox was injured and had shoulder surgery. The Twins stuck with him through that process and footed the bill for his recovery (though admittedly this would have been at subsistence wages for him). AND… he stuck with them. I think that if they waived him and let him go with no strings it shows very good faith on the Twins part. I don’t think there are any bad guys here. I like to see the Twins win on all occasions… but if Fox burns them a bit one day in the future I doubt anyone will be terribly unhappy.

Note… to one poster. If you claim someone from waivers you need to be prepared to put that person on your roster and pay their salary. So blocking a waiver carries some risk…. kind of like the “time bomb” game we all played as kids.

The question I have is: I understand there were no more room in the 40 man roster. It was him or De los Santos. Any idea why they would prefer keep De los Santos? I am not saying they were wrong. I just don’t know much about De los Santos and looking at his numbers nothing stands out. But I know numbers don’t tell the whole story.

There are multiple types of waivers, the waivers you usually hear about this time of year are revocable waivers, that’s how we got Fuentes. When a player is DFA’d, this means that they are being removed from the 40-man roster, as was the case with Fox, and must be put on irrevocable waivers within a certain period. Irrevocable waivers are exactly what they sound like, if the player gets claimed, they’re gone. The claiming team gets them and must pay a nominal waiver fee to the team that waived them. If they clear waivers, they can freely be sent back down to the minors. These kind of waivers are how the Twins got players like Craig Breslow a couple years ago or Ron Mahay last year (I think Mahay was a waiver pickup).

Not a fan of this move. Fox could have been a nice reliever (most good relievers are “failed” starters) for a lot less money then Capps or Guerrier or some other players. This team will need to cut some costs when Joe’s massive contract comes up next year. Using 4/5/6 starter types as relievers is the best way to do that.